–President Ali says

ALTHOUGH the Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo) had hit rock bottom because of the former APNU+AFC administration, the current government has revived it and “heads will roll” if certain targets are not met.

This was a stern warning from President, Dr Irfaan Ali in a recent ‘In the Seat’ media engagement.
Prior to its election to office, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) government had promised to revive the sugar industry and re-energise local communities devastated by the unconscionable decision by the APNU+AFC to decommission and close several grinding estates.
And this promise was kept.

However, Dr Ali has said that the government is disappointed with GuySuCo’s current performance.

“I don’t shy away from issues as challenging as they may be. I’ve read the riot act to the management of GuySuCo. I’ve let them understand that we are very dissatisfied with the performance and notwithstanding the difficulties, we know they have and that is the condition of the field, which is more or less fixed now cause [of] the downtime in the factory.”

Further, the President said because several estates were previously shut down, it impacted production.

“We sat down with them, they brought together an investment plan that is needed to keep the factories working, to keep the factories efficient. We’ve supported that investment plan. So, I made it very clear, that if the target for 2025, the first crop target and the second crop target is not achieved… then heads will roll.”

In 2017, the former APNU+AFC coalition government made the decision to shut down several sugar estates nationwide, resulting in thousands of workers losing their jobs and sources of income. This move led to the closure of four sugar estates, leaving over 7,000 sugar workers unemployed.

The Rose Hall Estate, before its closure, employed approximately 2,500 workers, with 1,181 being retrenched. The remaining workers were reassigned to Blairmont Estate on the West Coast of Berbice and Albion Estate on the Corentyne.

Historically, Guyana relied heavily on sugar as a major source of revenue, making it one of the country’s largest income earners. However, the industry eventually faced financial troubles, with mounting debts pushing it into insolvency. The primary issue was that the cost of sugar production exceeded the market price. GuySuCo, for instance, produced sugar at an average cost of US$0.35 per pound, while global market prices averaged just US$0.16 per pound.

Although the sugar industry has long been seen as a financial burden, the PPP administration is now determined to revive it and bring it back from the brink of collapse.

In a previous ‘In the Seat’ media engagement, the President stated that the continued investments in the GuySuCo is aimed at making the industry economically viable, but Guyanese must be reminded of the deplorable state of the sugar industry prior to the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) administration.

“One must remember what we inherited when we came into office,” he said.

“The fields were left abandoned, even the canals—big trees were in all the canals, all the punts were rotted. There was no dam. It was like a forest. So, we had to build back from the field, then we had to build back from all the factories,” he explained.

The Head of State urged that the sugar industry should not just be viewed as a financial product, but also from an economic perspective, citing the industry’s spin-off benefits to communities.
However, President Ali acknowledged that a major challenge lies in the ageing equipment and lack of spare parts for the sugar factories, which have caused significant downtime.

To address these challenges, the government has enlisted international support. In addition to restoring the physical infrastructure, the President pointed out the need to create a new culture in the sugar industry—a culture focused on efficiency, productivity, and a sense of ownership among workers.

“We have to develop a new culture, a winning culture, within the industry,” Ali said. “This period of rebuilding will have its challenges, but we have to embrace it if we are going to make the industry successful.”